Combined flow control and relief valve



Dec. 21, 1937. H. F. VICKERS 2,102,865

' COMBINED FLOW CONTROL AND RELIEF VALVE Filed June 20, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. I

' V 756, WWW.

' BY I ATTORNEYS Dec. 21, 1937. v cK s 2,102,865

COMBINED FLOW CONTROL AND RELIEF VALVE Filed June 20, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

if y Wife/s: 75% M Z ZZ-JM' ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 21, 1937 Q I 15;

UNITED STATES PATENT orrice 2.102.865 COMBINED now common AND mums VALVE Harry F.- vickers, Detroit, Mich assignor to Vickera Incorporated, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application June .20, 1934, Serial No. 731,470

Claim!- (CI. 60-52) This invention relates to a combined flow conto the operation of an entire hydraulic system trol and relief valve and has to do particularly may-be best understood when connected into a with a variable pressure flow control, and, overmore or less standard hydraulic circuit, of the flow and relief valve as a unit in a complete hytype illustrated in Fig. 1. 5 draulic circuit. Following through the illustrated embodiment, 5

Heretofore, in hydraulic power transmitting as'sho'wn in Fig. l, the operating liquid, prefercircuits, it has been customary in some instances ably oil, may be drawn from the reservoir I, to utilize a throttle type flow control for reguthrough a supply conduit 2, by reason of the conlating or controlling the speed of the liquid-actutinuous actuation of a pump 3, which pump is ated device; in such systems it has been cuspreferably of the constant displacement type, 10

' tomary to use relief valve structure so designed and of a size compatible with the work to be that the pump would operate continuously at performed. Liquid under pressure may be conmaximum relief valve pressure, regardless of load ducted through a conduit 4 into a chamber 5 requirements. of my combined flow control and relief valve, It is an object of the present invention to proillustrated in detail in Fig. 2. Control of the 15 vide a single unit as a part of a hydraulic power flow of actuating fluid from the chamber 5 to transmitting system, said single unit acting both the member to be actuated is by means of an orias a flow control and relief valve and being so fice throttle valve 6. constructed and connected into the system that In order to maintain a constant flow through the operating pressure of the supply pump only the orifice valve 6 so that the flow rate from the 20 exceeds by a relatively small amount that preschamber 5 to the conduit 1 will be constant, resure required to actually perform the work to be gardless of the degree'of resistance encountered accomplished; thus by combining the flow conby the member being actuated, which in turn trol and relief valve, it is possible to change what would cause changes in the required pressure in I was formerly a fixed pressure system to .a variconduit I, I have provided a piston 8 the lower able pressure system. part of which, as shown in Pig. 1, defines an up- Another feature of the present invention has per wall of the chamber 5, and the upper part to do with a combined flow control and relief of. which defines the lower wall of chamber 9. valve structure adapted to be so connected up A small relief or guide chamber III is formed in with the operating piston that the flow rate the casing above the piston 8, and" an exhaust 30 through the operating conduit leading to the valve is provided at the lower end of the piston, piston is constant regardless of the resistance comprising a valve seat II and a. tapered valve encountered by the operating. piston up until the member l2. The center of the piston 8 is prefdeveloped resistance exceeds the maximum aderably hollow, as is best shown in Fig. 2. The justed pressure of the system. area of the valve l2 below the piston 8 is sub- 35 Other features of the invention include destantially balanced by a guide II, which projects tails of construction of the combined flow coninto the chamber member II. The effective size trol and relief valve, embodying particularly such of the orifice of the valve 6, and hence the voldetails as permit the single unit to function both ume of liquid passing therethrough is controlled as a means of regulating the flow rate to a piston by means of the adjustable lever I4. 40 as well as limiting the maximum pressure at Direct application of the liquid under pressure which the system can operate. from the combined fiow control and relief valve,

In the drawings: is by means of a conventional type four-way Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of a valve, having a piston rod is and double pistons complete liquid circulating system and showing it and I1 co-operating with conduits I8 and I9 45 particularly the diagrammatic structure of the to direct the liquid under pressure to one end or combined speed control and relief valve and the the other of cylinder 2. and into chambers 2i or manner of connecting the same into the system. 22 that control th movement of the piston 23. Fig. 2 is a large detail view showing the essen- Exhaust liquid from the cylinder 20 is conducted tial operating parts of my combined flow control away by either the conduits I! or ii, through the 50 and relief valve. four-way valve and relief conduits 25, to the It will be understood that my flow control retank. lief valv may be i stal as a u i in m ny A relatively restricted conduit 24 connects the different types of hydraulic circuits, but its acoperating pressure in the conduit 1 with the tual operation as an efliclent unit with respect chamber Sabove the piston 8. Relative pressures 55 on'either side of the piston 8 determine the flow of liquid under pressure entirely through the orifice valve 5, or partly or substantially entirely through the outlet valve II. A pressure relief valve or ball 28, backed by a predetermined strength spring 2!, variable by adjusting means 30, controls the flow of liquid through passageway 22, which is a relatively large passageway compared to the restricted passageway 24. An auxiliary exhaust conduit "connects the chamber surrounding the spring 29 with the main exhaust conduit 25.

Obviously the movement of the piston 22 may circuit; in the position of the four-way valve,

as shown in Fig. 1, liquid under pressure is admitted through conduit i8, thence to chamber 22, causing travel of the piston 23 to the right. Exhaust liquid from the chamber 2| of the cylinder 20 will pass through conduit i8 and out through conduit 25 to the reservoir. In order to maintain a constant flow through the orifice valve 5, so that the flow rate from the chamber to conduit I will be constant, regardless of the resistance encountered by the piston, which in turn would cause changes in the required operating pressure from conduit I, piston 8 is arranged to actuate valve l2 in relation to its seat ll, whereby to maintain a constant differential or pressure drop between said chamber 5 and conduit I, regardless of any changes in pressure in such conduit I.

The amount of pressure drop across the valve 5 is controlled by the stiffness of spring 8|. Assuming spring 8| to have the value of eighteen pounds per square inch area of the piston 8 exposed to chamber 5, it is obvious that ii the pressure in conduit I is zero, a pressure of. eighteen pounds per square inch must exist in chamber 5 before the upward-thrust on piston 8 will overcome the spring 3|, at which point such piston 8 would move upwardly and exhaust excess oil through the valve seat ii and conduit 26, to the reservoir I. The diameter of the guide I3 is preferably slightly smaller than the diameter of the valve l2, so that under normal conditions the tendency is to hold the valve [2 on the valve seat ll; however, sufficient eillciency can be obtained by having the effective areas of guide l3 and the piston l2 substantially equal.

Again assuming a pressure of a hundred pounds per square inch existed in conduit I, during a certain part of the working movement of the piston, this pressure would be delivered or transmitted into the chamber 8 by the restricted conduit 24, and would assist the spring 3| in maintaining the valve l2 in contact with its seat ll. Under these conditions a pressure of one hundred eighteen pounds per square inch would have to exist in chamber 5 before the piston 8 could overcome the pressure of one hundred pounds in the chamber 9 plus the eighteen pounds pressure of spring 8|. Any tendency :of the pressure in chamber 5 to increase would consequently allow oil to exhaust through passage 28 to the reservoir. It will also be seen under these conditions that the pressure drop across the orifice valve 6 is still eighteen pounds per squar inch or equivalent to the strength of the sp ng 8|.

It will be seen, therefore, that the pressure in conduit I and chamber 5 can rise as required to fulfill the operating conditions surrounding the piston 23, but the pressure in chamber 5 will always remain eighteen pounds greater than that in conduit 1 until uch time as the pressure in conduit 1, communi ated through restricted passage 24, chamber 9, and enlarged passage 32, is sufllcient to overcome the spring 28 and unseat the relief ball 28. When this predetermined pressure is reached, oil can be exhausted through the relief. ball 28 and conduit 21 more rapidly than it can be replaced through the restricted conduit 24, and this action will limit the maximum ressure which can exist in.chamber 8. 'I'heref re, any increase in pressure in the conduit I, or the chamber 5, over and above the established maximum pressure of the system, resultsin a greater upward thrust on the piston 8. thus permitting the entire pump volume to be exhausted directly through the seat It and the conduit 26, to the tank. It will be seen that the restriction 24 operates in true combination with the valve 28 and chamber 5; when a rise in pressure in chamber 9 is suilicient to open valve 28 the restriction prevents liquid in the line from going through the chamber 8 and around through the conduit 21; in addition the restriction has a dampening and non-chattering action on the liquid.

Thus the stiffness of the spring 28, being adjustable by the screw 80, provides means for adjustably limiting the maximum pressure which can exist in the system. It is therefore, evident that this single unit functions both as a means of regulating the flow rate to the piston 28, as well as limiting the maximum pressure at which this system can operate. This flow rate through the conduit I is constant, regardless of the resistance encountered by piston 23, up until this resistance exceeds the maximum adjusted pressure of the system. However, what is probably of more importance, is the fact that the pump 8 does not operate continuously at the predetermined maximum relief valve pressure determined by spring 29, but on the contrary, the operating pressure of the pump 3, and of course, the operating pressure in chamber 5, will exceed by a very small amount (substantially the pressure of the spring 3|), that pressure required to actually overcome the resistance of piston 28. Thus, the combination of the combined flow control and relief valve with the remainder of the system has provided a simple, compact and variable system with enormous advantages in pump efllciency and reduction of wear and replacement costs.

What I claim is:

1. In a hydraulic power transmitting system, the combination of a work member shiftable by liquid under pressure, a constant displacement pump, a reservoir, and a combined pressure flow control and relief valve unit connected in between said pump and work member, means for directing the liquid from said pump to and from said work member to control the directional operation thereof, said valve unit including a chamber for receiving liquid under pressure from said pump, a variable orifice valve member positioned between said chamber and l pi operatingline to said work member, and piston valve means forming an integral part of said unit and having a valve connected to said reservoir and a piston having one effective surface and hydraulically connected to one side of said orifice valve member and another surface connecting the pressure line to the work member for simultaneously maintaining the flow rate to said work member and varying the operating pressure in said chamber proportionately to the actual pressure required to overcome the resistance of the work member for regulating and maintaining the fiow rate to said work member to predetermine and then maintain the speed of said work member at any part of its movement, and maximum pressure relief means connecting one side of said piston to the reservoir and actuated by relative pressure on opposite sides of said piston to determine the flow of liquid entirely through said orifice valve or at least partly past said piston valve.

2. In a hydraulic power transmitting system, the combination of a work member shiftable by liquid under pressure, a constant displacement pump, a reservoir, and a combined pressure flow control and relief valve unit connected in between said pump and work member, said valve unit comprising a chamber for receiving liquid under pressure from said pump, a variable orifice valve member positioned between said pressure chamber and the operating line to said work member, an exhaust conduit leading from said chamber to said reservoir, a piston in said unit having a valve portion extending through said chamber and cooperating with said exhaust conduit to control the fiow of liquid from said pressure chamber totsaid reservoir, a chamber formed in the valve housing above said piston, a relatively restrictive conduit connecting the pressure line to the work member with said last named chamber, a relatively large conduit leading from said second named chamber and connecting with said reservoir, and an adjustable relief valve positioned in said relatively large conduit and operating in combination with said piston valve and exhaust conduit to additionally control the fiow of liquid from said chamber to said reservoir.

3. A combined fiow control and relief valve for use with constant displacement pumps, comprising a unit housing, a chamber in said housing for receiving a pressure supply, an exhaust line leading from said chamber to a work member, a regulable orifice in said line, a relief orifice leading from said chamber, a substantially balanced piston valve having a portion extend- 'ing through said chamber and acting as a control valve for said relief orifice, a spring acting on said piston valve to determine the pressure differential across said orifice valve, a conduit h'av ing a restricted orifice leading from the work line into the spring pressed side of said piston, and a maximum relief control connected into the spring pressed side of the piston valve to effect relief through the relief orifice of pressure above that predetermined by the relief control.

4. In a hydraulic power transmitting system, the combination of a work member shiftable by liquid under pressure, a constant displacement pump, a reservoir, and a combined pressure fiow control and relief valve unit connected in between said pump and work member, means for directing the liquid from said pump to and from said work member to control the directional operation thereof, said valve unit including a chamber for receiving liquid under pressure from said pump, a

' variable orifice valve member positioned between said chamber and operating line to said work member, and piston valve means forming an integral part of said unit and having a valve connected to said reservoir and a piston having one effective surface and hydraulically connected to one side of said orifice valve member and another surface connecting the pressure line to the work member for simultaneously maintaining the fiow rate to said work member and varying the operating pressure in said chamber proportionately to the actual pressure required to overcome the resistance of the work member for regulating and maintaining the fiowrate to said work member to predetermine and then maintain the speed of said work member at any part of its movement, and maximum pressure relief means connecting one side of said piston to the reservoir and actuated by relative pressure on opposite sides of said piston to determine the flow of liquid entirely through said orifice valve or at least partly past said piston valve, and means for temporarily bypassing said unit to obtain rapid movemeilit of said work member during a portion of its eye e.

v 5; A combined fiow control and relief valve for use with constant displacement pumps, comprising a unit housing, a chamber in said housing valve to determine the pressure differential across said orifice valve, a conduit having a restricted orifice leading from the work line into the spring pressed side of said piston, and a maximum relief control connected into the spring pressed side of thepiston valve to effect relief through the relief orifice of pressure above that predetermined by the relief control, the actuation of said relief valve being subject to relative pressures on opposite sides of the said piston to determine the flow of liqiiid under pressure entirely through the regulableorificqpr at least partly through said relief orifice.

' HARRY F. VICKERS. 

